


incentive

by tsuluio



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Aloha says it’s initiation but it’s just to hook up with his teammates, Crack, Drunk Fic, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Parties, my excuse to shove pink team everywhere, rider is a tsundere, rider is part of S4 now yall, short dance battle, underaged drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-07 20:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19857262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuluio/pseuds/tsuluio
Summary: Rider believes he’s definitely going to regret this.Afterwards? He’s not so sure.





	incentive

**Author's Note:**

> i can’t believe I’ve never written an alorai fic before even if it was hinted at some point haha

“So... Rider.”

The yellow-green Inkling looks up to see Aloha merely an inch away from his face. He recoils, shoving his phone between them. 

“What the shell?”

Aloha just laughs softly. “You’ve been part of the S4 for a while now. I think you need to be initiated.”

“Initiated?” Rider repeats, glancing over to where Mask and Skull are sitting. Neither look in his direction which tells him he won’t get any help here. “For what?”

“For the S4 of course!” Aloha thankfully leans away to throw his arms wide. “We’ve all gotten initiated already, haven’t we, Mask? Skull?”

The two Inklings look up at their names, mutter noises of assent and go back to doing whatever they’re doing. 

“What exactly is this... initiation?” Rider almost feels like he could regret asking, and judging by the huge grin on Aloha’s face, he already can sense his stomach sinking. 

“Ah, nothing too terrible, I’d imagine,” the pink Inkling hums. “You’d just have to accompany me to one of my parties, yeah? That shouldn’t be a hassle.”

Rider blanches. Pink Team parties are infamous for being loud, chaotic, and overwhelming, and even the most versatile Inklings have trouble staying sane during these festivities. “Your party?”

Aloha flashes him another wide smile and Rider wants to smack it right off of him. “Yep! You have trouble with it?” His tone drops to a challenging one and his eyes narrow slightly. “How about we make it more interestin’ for you? I’ll bet you won’t make it through the night without passin’ out piss-drunk.”

Rider can feel himself bristling. Why the shell would Aloha even want this that badly? He’s sure the rest of the S4 didn’t have to deal with this like the way Aloha was stretching it out to be. The party? Sure. The bet? Not so much. 

But the competitive streak in him isn’t willing to give in. “Fine. You have a deal.”

Aloha smirks. “If you win, you get whatever you want. If I win, you have to do whatever I want. You’d pass into the S4 as long as you don’t leave halfway through, and believe me, I will know.”

Rider huffs and folds his arms. “Whatever.”

“C’moon Rider~” Aloha slings an arm around him, and Rider resists the urge to shove him off, face betraying him with heat. “It can’t be that bad.”

—

It’s bad. It’s very bad. Rider remembers the reason why he absolutely detests parties; he’s never been a party person to begin with, but Pink Team seems to drive the nail in further. 

Two minutes in and the chandelier is on the floor, glass shards crunching under everyone’s shoes as they dance to the pounding music, seemingly unaware of the specks of plaster spread across the makeshift dance floor. Aloha has disappeared from his side; Rider sees him making out with some random Inkling on the couch and he turns away, a strange raw feeling filling his gut. 

Pink Team has somehow managed to repair this abandoned warehouse for a party, probably because Mahi Mahi is still recovering from the one a few nights before. It explained the lack of support for the chandelier at least, but Rider didn’t really feel safe with the roof quite literally caving down on them. 

“Rider~~!” He turns to see Octoglasses bearing down on him. 

“Hi?” He doesn’t know the other that well, but any Pink Team member is worth backing away from, especially when they’re drunk. 

She doesn’t seem wasted yet, at least, but she shoves a beer bottle into his hand. “You should probably drink up,” she advises. “These parties are a doozy.”

Rider shakes his head and tries to give the bottle back. “I don’t drink.”

Octoglasses laughs. “Army and Skull said the same. They both ended up so wasted, Aloha had to actually carry them home. Just drink. It’ll be easier on you.”

Rider shakes his head. If he starts drinking, he’ll never stop and passing out is the last thing he can do. “Thanks, but no.”

She pouts. “Suit yourself, but when everyone starts flockin’ to you, you better be ready.”

“What?”

Octoglasses rolls her eyes before explaining. “You’re a hunk.”

Rider doesn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not and she’s gone way before he even can ask her. The beer bottle is freezing cold and he shifts it to his left hand so his right won’t turn to ice. He checks the clock mounted on the wall. Assuming if it’s the correct time, he has at least three hours before he can escape. Three long hours. 

He’s so screwed. 

He wonders how the rest of the S4 managed. They obviously didn’t have the bet of lasting without being drunk so Mask could’ve just curled up in a corner and played video games or slept for three hours. Skull and Army didn’t really seem like they’d take part in the party at all either but from what Octoglasses told him, they might as well just drank to get rid of their senses. 

There’s a scream and a crash as an Inkling tumbles off the banister and lands in the crowd, the mass moving to accommodate. The bass covers the rest of the sound and the crowd moves inwards, jostling Rider quite a few times. 

That beer is looking pretty tempting right now. 

Someone bumps into him and he reels back, ready to snap at them, and almost catches Scuba in the face as he spins around. 

“Yo! Rider, man, haven’t seen you in a while! ‘Loha said you were gonna show but I actually didn’t believe it.”

“Did he now?” Rider makes a mental note to throttle Aloha if he sees him later. The drunker the better. No one needs to know he’s here. It’d ruin his reputation.

"Yeah, man, it's crazy."

"You better not tell anyone."

Scuba grins and sways slightly, raising his own glass to Rider as if to toast him. "I swear on my life." 

"Well your life will be gone if you break that promise."

Scuba takes a swig of his drink, smirking. "Oh, man, I'm _so_ terrified," he yawns as Rider resists the urge to smash this beer bottle over the other's head. "Good luck with Aloha, man. Dunno when you're gonna smash but hopefully you'll stop giving Straw heart palpitations whenever she sees you two within two feet of each other."

"When we're going to _what_?" Rider asks, but Scuba's already gone.

Infuriating.

It's almost like the entire Pink Team knows something he doesn't, and it's driving him nuts. They're not even a team anymore, so why do they all seem to be in on some nonexistent joke?

The condensation on the bottle is running over his hands now; it's too hot for the coolness and water drips over his knuckles, landing on the floor. He shakes off what he can as the tempo of the music changes to some kind of faster beat than it already was, some feat that is impossibly accomplished. Rider glances towards the DJ booth, spying Scuba there, the pink Inkling winking at him for reasons unknown, before gesturing to the dance floor like _you're welcome_.

Rider looks towards the dance floor, expecting to see some drunk couples grinding on each other or something, but instead he finds Aloha in the center of the mob, the crowd parted around him. He edges closer without realizing and watches as Aloha twists and dances along to the music, body conforming perfectly with the rhythm. It's almost mesmerizing, in a way, and Rider pops the cap off of his beer absentmindedly, taking a long swig. He never knew Aloha could dance like that, but then again he doesn't know a lot about Aloha.

Maybe that's why interacting with him is so frustrating. Rider likes to know things, and anything even slightly ambiguous to him is exasperating.

Aloha wears his carefree nature like a mask, concealing his true emotions, and sometimes it's so difficult to figure the pink Inkling out that it makes Rider want to scream in frustration.

But here, on this dance floor, Aloha is smiling and laughing as usual but it's _genuine_ more than anything. He looks at home here, and as Rider watches, his former team joins him on the dance floor, all of them going through motions that seem to be in muscle memory, the crowd cheering wildly for them. The music speeds up, faster and faster, and Rider watches as Aloha's limbs become blurs, feet stepping impossibly fast, eyes bright from liquor. It seems like a game to see which member will break first. 

Octoglasses looks like she's had one too many and falls over when the song switches suddenly, unable to keep up with the tempo. She giggles and retreats, merging with the crowd to cheer her friends on.

Straw's the next to back out, simply because Octoglasses toasts her in the middle of the dance and she blushes so hard, she loses balance. The crowd claps for her as she takes a bow and goes to stand next to Octoglasses, the two exchanging a quick kiss.

Scuba and Aloha go at it for much longer, shouting things to each other that are lost over the cheers and the pounding music. Rider, for some reason, wishes he could be closer to actually hear them, and with a start, realizes his bottle is empty. Someone takes the empty glass from him and hands him another, his fingers popping the top before he has a chance to think.

It's intoxicating, this place. The heavy smell of alcohol, the heat from the crowd, and Aloha. Rider watches as Scuba stops dancing so abruptly, he staggers slightly before righting himself, still grinning widely, before gesturing to Aloha who's still dancing furiously. The crowd's screams with approval as Scuba rushes to the booth to slow the music down. Aloha ends the dance with a bow, a huge smile splitting his face, chest heaving from the exertion. The crowd breaks after that, the music turning back to its normal bumping rhythm and Rider forgets that he’s there, staring at Aloha. The pink Inkling claps a random person on the shoulder, laughs, and turns to see Rider, eyes lighting up and before the yellow green Inkling can process it, he’s right next to Rider, flashing a drunken smile. 

“Rider,” he slurs, and the other catches the smell of alcohol on his breath. “How’s the party going? You hangin’ in there?”

“More than you,” Rider says, all too aware he just downed two entire bottles of beer himself in the span of the short dance off between former Pink Team members. 

Aloha snickers. “It takes more than that for me to pass out, y’know. Congrats, though, you’re halfway through.”

Rider instinctively reaches for his phone, glancing at the time. Aloha’s right. More than an hour passed and he only has another hour and a half left. 

“Time flies when you drink, yeah?” Aloha hums, rocking back on his heels. “Surprised no one tried to sugar you yet.”

Rider frowns, his not-that-sober mind struggling to process those words while downing another bottle. “..Okay?”

The music changes again, an upbeat song with a quick beat, nowhere close to the dance off song but it’s a peg lower. Aloha’s ears flick upwards a little and Rider vaguely wonders when the other got so cute before shoving the thoughts away. 

Before he has a chance to get away, however, Aloha’s grabbing his wrist and leading him to the center of the dance floor. Someone takes his bottle and he makes brief eye contact with a smug Straw before he’s in the middle of the room, Aloha holding his hand and dancing like it’s the end of the world. The beat is catchy, he has to admit, but he’s never been a dancer and never will be. 

He’s fine just watching, though, as Aloha spins around him, a wink thrown in his direction unconsciously coloring his cheeks. It’s like the pink Inkling has drawn him into a mindless trance, because when Aloha has the absolute nerve to slide a hand down Rider’s chest to get him to unzip his jacket, Rider catches Aloha’s chin and tilts it upwards so he can mash their lips together. 

There are no wolf whistles, no shouts of “ooooh” from the crowd because everyone seems locked in their own world. Even as Rider leads Aloha away from the dance floor, he can see the other members of Pink Team standing off to the side, smirking at him. He flips them off and nearly falls as Aloha takes too wide of a step and stumbles. 

Rider catches the other without really thinking too much about it and only when Aloha kisses him briefly on the nose before standing himself again does the yellow green Inkling realize something. This feeling? It’s love. 

But no, it’s hate because he could never love Aloha, the fricking bastard, the one always poking fun at him and making him feel so so annoyed with the world. 

Or maybe it was a sign he liked Aloha? All his friends were people he originally disliked, so for him to hate someone is the equivalent of love, right?

His head hurts. Three bottles is too many for him, especially since he practically never drinks. He shouldn’t be thinking these thoughts. This place is like poison. 

Aloha seems to sense he needs something and carefully wraps an arm around Rider’s shoulders. “We leavin’?”

“Mm.” Rider twists to face the pink Inkling once they’re farther from the dance floor and Aloha’s obnoxious teammates, hands reaching up to remove the other’s visor. 

Aloha makes a moue of surprise before smiling sultrily and trying to unzip Rider’s jacket again, this time succeeding. It’s not much cooler without his jacket, and it frustrates Rider to no end for some reason. His hands work at Aloha’s own shirt, practically ripping apart the buttons in his haste, a growl unintentionally escaping his lips. Aloha simply presses closer to him and kisses him again, their bodies meshing together perfectly, like they are meant to do this. 

They lose clothes somehow, end up in Aloha’s bedroom somehow, the room full of a strange scent somehow. Rider honestly doesn’t care when or why or how he ended up here, half naked with Aloha curled up on his chest, but he can’t be bothered to move. He falls asleep after checking the time. A full hour past the end of the party. Perfect. 

—

“Youuuu survived huh?” is the first thing Mask says to him the next day. Rider ignores that the cyan Inkling’s eyes drop to his neck, studying the marks there. “Looks like you got laaaid, huhuhu~” 

“Shut up,” Rider says automatically, cheeks flushing despite himself. He forces himself to not look at the door, to not look for Aloha. 

“Interesting,” is all Skull says, and somehow it’s more irritating than if he were to comment on Rider’s messy state. 

His jacket zipper is broken, leaving him to let it hang open, his shirt rumpled, shoes partially unlaced, and his tentacles are the only normal thing about him as he had to retie it anyway. 

Aloha comes downstairs only moments later, looking like a train hit him, but he’s grinning. “You won the bet, Rider, what do you want?” 

He’s awfully happy for losing, and Aloha usually is the type to sit and pout for at least half an hour. It’s disconcerting to say the least, but the pink Inkling has half a mind to look cute while excited and Rider has to force his own smile down. 

“Hmmm,” he says, pretending to think. He knows what he wants. Aloha knows too, by the look on his face. Mask and Skull are watching them now, with varying degrees of amusement. 

And suddenly he doesn’t care if the others are here, if his reputation will just go down the drain right this second. In two steps, he’s right in front of Aloha and it’s almost satisfying to see the pink tint bloom across his cheeks and ears. He leans down slightly to kiss him deeply, pulling away as slowly as he can to drag it out before leaning close to the pink Inkling, their faces barely an inch apart. 

“You. I want you.”

—

BONUS

He gets a pile of texts from three unknown numbers in some random group chat he was added to a few hours later. 

_{Unknown number, Unknown number, Unknown number, and Rider are online}_

>[Unknown number] oh shit our contacts are all screwed up hang on

>[Straw] there we go

>[Rider] What the shell is this carp. 

>[Octoglasses] oooh rider how was ur night w loha??? :0 you guys fuck?

>[Rider] ....

>[Scuba] they probably did h a

>[Rider] No, shut up. 

>[Straw] lol they did 

>[Octoglasses] how does it feel to not b a v anymore rider ;)

>[Rider] .. I’m leaving. 

>[Scuba] woah chill im pretty sure all of us here have lost it to loha in particular

>[Octoglasses] nah mine was straw 

>[Scuba] i stand corrected

>[Straw] yr too fuckin tall to stand ughhh just sit ok

>[Scuba] _< crying laughing emoji>_

>[Octoglasses] stop using emojis ur too childish 

>[Rider] She has a point. 

>[Scuba] i dont remember invitin you to attack me like the girls and loha already do im just tryna live here

>[Rider] Ha. 

>[Straw] anywaaaay have fun w loha, rider! :D he fucks real well when yr sober 

>[Rider] I didn’t need to know that. 

>[Octoglasses] sureee~ you’re prolly gunna go bang him again jus bc straw said that

>[Rider] You can’t prove anything. 

>[Scuba] youre hilarious man. go have fun with him and tell us how it was _< wink emoji>_

>[Rider] Shut up. 

_{Rider is offline}_

>[Straw]... theyre gonna fuck rn. betting two dollars

>[Octoglasses] yeah duh

_{Scuba, Straw, and Octoglasses are offline}_

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated!! ily all


End file.
